Derus Zel
Background Early Life For Derus Zel, most of his life was an uphill battle. He has no clue who his parents were, other than a vague idea that his mother was a Concubine to Zel-Atans before his ascension to the throne. When he was born, Derus was almost immediately left out on the street, and it hardened him at a young age. As a child, Derus bounced between the few orphanages that were in the Demon Territory, and when he inevitably left every single one, he began to scour the streets. Every night he would walk the same lonely roads, watching as the noble houses and high society shunned people like him. After all, they were too busy driving their fancy cars to care that people like him were living on their scraps while the weak were stolen from by the strong. However, one day his life changed, when a 14 year old Derus stopped a thief from robbing a well dressed looking man. While he hated royal society, he knew it was wrong to let an injustice like this happen. This was his first meeting with Agath-Zog, one of the leaders of the Obsidian Council. A paramilitary group that worked to defend nobles, the rich, and military leaders. Impressed by his action, Zog offered him an opportunity to train with The Council. Choosing between his morals and his future, he chose his future. Life as a Council Member For the next four years, Derus was inducted as a squire at the Council, where Agath-Zog acted as Derus' personal mentor. It is here where Derus learned how to harness the powers of maya for combat, and how he learned to fight beyond street brawls. Despite being considered one of the most premiere private fighting forces at the time, the Council believed that guns were uncivilized and barbaric, instead opting to fight with traditional weaponry such as swords, axes, and spears. Unfortunately, Derus was not skilled with any of these, so he began to train with his fists, and with Zog's help, learned how to use his earth maya to forge gauntlets that could resist steel. As he trained with the council, his opinions on high society also began to soften, if only by a bit. He learned that there were good and bad people across every walk of life, and the truly righteous fought to protect the innocent no matter their origins. However, this peace through training that Derus experienced would soon be torn away from him when the War of Zel began. The War After returning from a supply run to the local towns, Derus' entire life was torn out from under him when the Council went up in flames. Zel-Atans had made his move for power, and sent his followers to destroy the Council. One of the monuments to what Atans believed to be a weak regime. While he was not the only survivors, his mentor was among one of the dead, ironically killed by a gunshot. With nowhere else to go and refusing to act as a conscript in Atans' army, Derus escaped the Demon Territory. Now acting as a mercenary for hire, he was soon hired by the army of Queen Luna to act in certain military operations. During one of these operations, it is where he met Archibald Valus, one of the standing commanders of the elite Valkyrie Military Unity Category:Character